It was a privilege to have the Minister for Veterans, Kevan Jones MP, visit the town last week to meet with people from Hartlepool who had served in the country’s Armed Forces.

The Minister met with Veterans (in appalling weather, if you remember last week) at the restored Heugh Gun Battery. The Battery has played a strong and proud role in the military history of this country for centuries, not least during the Bombardment, when it is said that decisive and professional return fire from the troops from the Battery made the German warships cancel their planned three-hour shelling of the town and make a retreat after less than an hour.

The restoration of the Battery is testimony to the vision, passion and commitment of the likes of Taffy Southcott, Steve Plant and countless others who volunteer and give up their time to secure the future of this important part of our military history. The Minister was extremely impressed with what the Battery Trust had done with the place.

Hartlepool is a strong military town, although it sometimes doesn’t seem that way. We haven’t an army base close by, like Catterick, we don’t have an RAF base next to us, like Linton-on-Ouse (much to my dad’s despair, who loves the RAF) and- although we’re on the coast and have a proud maritime tradition- I wouldn’t say we are a navy town like Plymouth.

Having said that I really enjoy, when I get the chance, to have a drink in the Navy Club. I occasionally end up singing when I come out of the Navy Club after spending time with John Neville and others – I think they must put something in the rum. We in Hartlepool have a great tradition with the Durham Light Infantry, and the Royal Air Force Association are actively recruiting members and doing a lot to advance the objectives of the Association.

There were about 40 Veterans at the event with the Minister last week. There was a great atmosphere, and the Minister mentioned the role that he has in Government, including being the Minister with responsibility for UFOs.

There is more help available to veterans now than ever before. The Service Personnel and Veterans’ Agency provides great support for anyone who has served in the Armed Forces, even if only for a day. This includes a free Veterans UK helpline – 0800 169 2277 and website – www.veterans-uk.info – which provide information, advice and guidance on benefits, compensation payments, pension, employment, awarding of medals and much more.

It is always very humbling when I spend time with Veterans. They are truly inspirational people – the best of British, as I mentioned on Friday. They provided, in dark days like the Second World War, the spirit and fight to beat the enemy. I don’t believe that that those are unique characteristics of that generation: I think the young men and women who are fighting on behalf of our country now display the same character. We should all be immensely proud of what they do for our country and, when they leave the Armed Forces, they should be provided with the best possible help and support there is.

Last week Yvette Cooper, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, came to Hartlepool to see what is being done about tackling unemployment in the town.

Unemployment is devastating. Being in a job is not only positive in terms of providing you with an income, but all the evidence suggests that it improves other chances in life such as increased health, and a better sense of well being. The notion of getting up and doing a decent day’s work is something which has social benefits as well as making financial sense. Unemployment can never be seen as a price worth paying, or something that can be useful in pursuing economic goals such as reducing the level of inflation. Unemployment blights families and can really undermine whole communities.

Hartlepool has unfortunately down the decades suffered from more than its fair share of unemployment. In the 1980s, the scale of job losses and the decimation of traditional industries meant that, at one point, male unemployment was running at 25 per cent in the town. It has taken years to try to turn around the social and economic consequences of this devastating time, and even now the town remains vulnerable to an economic downturn. It will arguably take decades to recover from the industrial and economic shocks of the 1980s.

In the most severe economic recession that the world has seen since the Second World War it is sadly the case that Britain, as a trading nation, and Hartlepool- which remains a strong trading town, could not be immune from these big global forces. On a positive note, it is useful to realise that, in the last recession in the 1990s, the number of people in the town unemployed was significantly higher than today. In 1992, the number of people unemployed was about 6,500; now, it is just below 4,000. This seems to indicate that the interventions from the Government – together with more flexibility from business – are helping to reduce the jobless figure.

However, this is not the time for complacency. The unemployment figures we see today are still far too high, and I feel it is the role of anybody in authority to work together to try to address this problem.

The Government has responded, particularly with regards to unemployment for younger people, with investment such as the Future Jobs Fund. Hartlepool was successful in receiving this money, and thanks to partnership and determination to do something to help the town, the Council, voluntary groups and others are pulling their weight to help reduce unemployment.

Hartlepool’s Future Job Fund, after only a couple of months, is the best performing project in the North East and one of the best in the country. There are approximately 400 people in the North East who have accessed the Future Jobs Fund, and over half of these – 218 – are in Hartlepool. The scheme is on track to achieve its objectives of creating 720 jobs.
Of great significance in this is Manor Residents Association. Angie Wilcox, the Manager, is someone who won’t take no for an answer. She called me one Friday to demand that I attended a meeting at Manor Residents so some of the problems about Future Jobs Fund could be aired and sorted out. Last week she told Yvette Cooper the story of how Manor Residents started out by knocking on people’s doors in Owton Manor asking them what colour those doors should be. Now, the Association is a major part of the Manor and employ people in youth matters, child care, and garden and allotment maintenance amongst others. It is a really positive story, and impressed the Secretary of State so much she texted me after the meeting to say she told half the Cabinet about Angie and Manor Residents!

I want to continue to work hard to ensure that other people in Hartlepool have the chance of work. Initiatives like the Future Jobs Fund shows that this vital investment is necessary and is working. Unemployment is never a price worth paying, and I will not rest until we can ensure that the jobless total comes down.

At the weekend I watched Gordon Brown’s interview with Piers Morgan. Like many people in the town who will have watched the actual programme, I’d seen the advance trailers, which seemed to suggest that the Prime Minister had wailed and sobbed on national television when speaking of the death of his daughter Jennifer.

In reality, this was far from being the case. I’m genuinely not being party political here I also for example think David Cameron has handled the death of his son Ivan with dignity. I think the Prime Minister was in obvious pain and grief when describing vividly the joy of his daughter’s birth and the smack of realisation that she wasn’t going to survive. The grief didn’t manifest itself in sobs and outright crying like the television adverts claimed he would, but with something arguably more painful and poignant: the Prime Minister’s red eyes and the memories etched across his face as he spoke about his daughter.

I’ve been very blessed. I have four wonderful and healthy children. We’ve had a few painful scares with illnesses for one or two of them, some of them very serious indeed. But thank goodness I have never had to endure the death of a baby or young child. I simply cannot think of anything worse. I’ve heard parents and grandparents over the years – particularly my late nana – saying that they would willingly sacrifice several years of their own life to ensure that their children and grandchildren would have happy, peaceful and healthy lives. As a dad, I fully understand that.

I think this country has come a long way in dealing more sensitively with the deaths of young children and in particular stillborn babies. It is not too long ago that the death of a premature child was seen as something you could brush off, almost without any thought. Grieving parents were provided little emotional support and it was thought best to try and move on almost as if nothing had happened and the child had never existed. A large number of parents have over the years lost a child in pregnancy, in child birth or in the early days of the child’s life; and the approach taken towards them was often astonishingly callous. It may have been meant well, but I think it in many cases it will have extended and intensified the grieving which the parents and close family experienced.

We have moved on. We have in Hartlepool the Baby Bereavement Support Group, set up by Val Lake about 15 years ago, which is run by bereaved parents for bereaved parents. The Group provides help, support and understanding for parents by people who have been through exactly the same emotions, emotions which can’t really be shared by anybody else. They are a wonderful group who can be contacted for anybody who needs help on 862362.

But of course grief can hit anybody at any time. The loss of a parent, grandparent or friend can be devastating, and take years to heal. Some people find it difficult to talk to somebody they know about what they are feeling. The Hartlepool Bereavement Service, run by bereavement officer Linda Parker, offers a listening ear. They can be contacted on 244689.

For any grief, whether it is the death of a child or the loss of a grandparent, grief can mean different things to different people, and will be handled in different ways. The important thing to remember in Hartlepool is that you don’t have to be on your own – help is out there.